


Restless Nights

by SilverKitChase



Category: RWBY
Genre: -shot-, Gen, Get it?, Jimmy's half birthday, No Beta, Sleepwalking, cause he's only half a person, general destruction of property?, half, sleepflying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:07:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29210100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverKitChase/pseuds/SilverKitChase
Summary: Qrow hadn't sleepwalked in 15 years.  He wished he'd outgrown it sooner, but better late then never right?  And if he started waking up in strange places, well it was nothing to worry about.Clover thinks his partner's sleepwalking is cute, until it isn't.  It's cute as long as Qrow isn't hurting himself or anyone else, and really, what's the worst that the de facto father of that flock of kids could get up to while asleep?
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 14
Kudos: 33





	Restless Nights

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to firstly apologize. It's been about 10 years since I've written anything that wasn't for school... so this is me sticking my toe in the water and trying my hand at creative writing again.
> 
> Second, this was inspired by a comment evbirb made about Sleepwalker!Qrow that just... wouldn't leave my head? So thanks for getting me going enough to actually... finish writing something.

It had been 15 years since Qrow had last been forced to acknowledge his problem with sleepwalking. As a child living in the tribe it had at best been an inconvenience, and at worst put the whole tribe in danger, what with his semblance. The last thing the tribe had needed was an unconscious, walking, talking bad luck charm wandering around Grimm infested woods at night. Then, at Beacon it had been an endless source of amusement for his teammates (Summer thought it was cute, and Tai had suggested Qrow just ask Ozpin for his own uniform so he could stop wearing his sister’s), except for Raven, who had more than once threatened to tie him to his bed so she could “get some gods damned sleep”. He’d grown out of it eventually. In fact, Qrow couldn’t recall having reason to believe he had sleepwalked since Ruby had been about two. So when decidedly… _odd_ things started happening at night, he’d tried his best to ignore them, and he certainly didn’t tell anyone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clover was the first to notice something strange. The first thing he noticed was that oftentimes Qrow would be absent from their bed come morning. When he asked about it, Qrow had mumbled something about being too restless to sleep and quickly changed the subject. Clover had hmm’d and let it go, the shape-shifter didn’t look any more tired than usual. It wasn’t until he woke up one morning to his living room completely rearranged (with Qrow swearing that he hadn’t moved anything) that he set up the cameras.

The first few nights after the installation of the cameras nothing unusual occurred and Clover forgot all about them. It wasn’t until a few weeks later when Clover was awoken at two in the morning by his partner peppering his neck and jaw with little kisses and love bites, grumbling about how rude Clover was for waking him (followed by a few noises that sounded suspiciously like chirps), and then promptly passing out on top of him, that Clover remembered the cameras.

That evening, after their mission, Clover suggested Qrow go find the kids and treat them to a movie or dinner. After all they had been working non-stop since arriving in Atlas hadn’t they? Qrow hadn’t voiced any objections, his eyes even lighting up at the prospect of spending an evening with his flock. So after a quick “good-bye” and “don’t wait up!”, Clover was left alone to review the footage from his cameras.

The first conclusive video of his partner’s sleepwalking was harmless enough. Qrow had sat straight up in bed, looked around with glassy eyes and then fallen back into his pillow, wrapped an arm around Clover and then buried his face in Clover’s neck, a small smile on his face. Clover smiled at how _soft_ and _content_ the normally gruff man looked curled up next to him. But midnight snuggles wasn’t what Clover was looking for. No, Clover was sure that Qrow got up to more at night and he was on a mission to find out exactly what.

The next couple of videos surprised Clover. Not because Qrow was doing anything he might not do while fully conscious, but simply because he hadn’t been aware that someone who clearly wasn’t awake would be capable of much of anything. Nevertheless, there was Qrow, half dressed in an apron and boxers, dancing around Clover’s apartment, feather duster in hand as he tidied the already immaculate tables and counters until the rug in the living room tripped the older man and sent him plummeting face first into the (thankfully) soft cushions of the couch. He stayed there the rest of the night. Another night, Qrow had stumbled out of bed to make himself something to eat in the kitchen. Clover was incredibly thankful that the man had apparently decided _against_ using the stove top. From what he’d gathered while listening to his nieces, Qrow’s semblance and fire were a bad match even while the man was awake. He shuddered to think what could go wrong if Qrow was near an open flame while unconscious.

Clover thought the whole situation was very cute until he watched the fourth video. Sleepwalking, Clover had at least _heard_ of before, and so far Qrow hadn’t done anything that he would consider dangerous to the man’s well-being. Sleep _flying_ on the other hand?! Clover felt his eyes grow wide as he watched Qrow barely finish sitting upright before he shifted and was flying dizzying circles around the apartment, worryingly close to Clover’s ceiling fan before finding a perch on top of his refrigerator, burying his head under his wing and staying there until morning.

Clover saved every single one of the videos to his scroll and then proceeded to immediately remove his fan. If Qrow was going to fly in his sleep, Clover was **NOT** going to risk him hurting himself. When Qrow came home that night and raised a questioning eyebrow at the pile of fan blades in the corner of the living room, Clover simply shrugged and made up an excuse about how the apartment was cool enough without a fan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It went on for months. Clover grew to look forward to the time he had to himself when he could watch the recordings of Qrow’s night time wanderings. Most of his activities were harmless, but slowly the apartment changed. After Qrow had decided to play darts by himself with Clover’s knives and the kitchen wall, the kitten calendar went up (Qrow had rolled his eyes, unaware of the damage to the wall behind it), and the knives had been locked up (Qrow spent so little time in the kitchen while conscious he didn’t even notice _that_ change). The window in the bedroom had been bolted shut after Qrow launched himself out of it one night, and following a fencing match with Clover’s only house plant (a small tree near the front door), Clover had talked Qrow into agreeing that Kingfisher and Harbinger should probably be locked up at night after all “it’d be too easy for someone to grab them if they walked in while we were sleeping”.

While some of Qrow’s antics were definitely ageing Clover, for the most part he just found the shifter’s nightly activities cute. His absolute favorite video however was one of the night that Qrow had rolled out of bed, shuffled over to the closet and proceeded to dress himself in _Clover’s_ uniform, glaring darkly at his reflection in the mirror and muttering something about how useless tailors were (“two of me could fit in this thing!”), and then proceeded to dramatically re-enact their meeting. Clover might have been offended at Qrow’s clearly exaggerated impression of him, but as it was, with the man completely unaware of what he was doing, it was simply the most adorable thing he’d ever seen. He’d watched that particular night’s antics at least once a day since discovering it.

Of course it was only a matter of time until Qrow found his way out of the apartment (through the front door this time). Clover should really have been more prepared for that eventuality. As it was, the first complaints of an ill-tempered man storming around the academy halls at night, barking at anyone and everyone who got in his path, went unnoticed. It wasn’t until Clover found a very frazzled and exhausted guard in one of the staff rooms of the Academy, relaying a story about a half dressed man who had burst into one of the training rooms the previous night to rant at the lights about being “obnoxious” that Clover thought to check the Academy’s cameras. Sure enough, when Clover checked, there was his bird, stomping grumpily around the Academy, barefoot and without a shirt, and then later glaring up at the lights of the training room, damning them for being too bright and giving him headaches.

Clover probably should have let it go. Tampering with security footage wasn’t exactly legal, and it wasn’t like anyone else was going to bother checking the footage off of one strange report. Still, Clover wasn’t comfortable with there being recordings of Qrow’s sleepwalking that he didn’t have direct control of, so after copying it to his own scroll, he wiped the records and pretended it had never happened. At even the faintest hint that Qrow had gone wandering around outside of their room, Clover would find the evidence, copy and wipe. It worked well until the night Qrow found his way into the General’s _locked_ office.

It was sheer luck that Clover was the first one to the General’s office that morning, arriving even before the man himself. He was the first to notice that the door was slightly cracked, and after nudging it open out of curiosity, was the first to see the state of the office proper. Clover wasn’t sure he had ever run faster than he did in his haste to get to the recordings from the night before. He didn’t even take the time to appreciate Qrow’s antics, or copy the files to his scroll as he usually would. When Clover found the incriminating footage he simply deleted it as quickly as possible and tried to calm himself as he waited for the inevitable call.

It came not five minutes later.

When Clover made it back to the General’s office he walked into a crowded room. The General, Winter, Penny, his Ace Ops, Qrow, and his whole flock were standing in the middle of the room, surveying the damage, expressions ranging from fury (Winter and the General) and shock, to impressed (Yang) and even downright gleeful (Nora, of course). Clover felt his own eyes widen as he took a look at the office as a whole. He’d had no time earlier to properly appreciate the chaos that had befallen the room. The General’s desk and chair had been wrapped in a forest green wrapping paper, with most of the loose items on his desk and the shelves around the edges of the office having been individually wrapped in what had to be the brightest shade of pink, Clover had EVER seen. The floor they were standing on was sticky (some kind of juice had been spilled if Clover had to guess), and littered with confetti. The only unwrapped thing on the General’s desk was a mixing bowl, and an assortment of ingredients, very few of which seemed to have ever made it into the bowl itself. Instead, flour, eggs, and milk had been spilled all over the place. But the most offending part of the whole display was what greeted Clover when he finally managed to turn back around to the entrance. There above the door, spelled out in what Clover assumed was frosting, “Happy _HALF_ -Birthday!”

A tense, dead silence hung over the room for a long while before the General broke it with a growl, drawing sixteen pairs of eyes to himself as he moved to stand behind his desk.

“I want to know WHO is responsible for this mess.”

As he spoke, the General’s eyes shifted, resting on each face as though he could divine the culprit right then and there. His eyes lingered on Nora who was struggling to school her glee at the chaotic state of the office. Beside him, Clover could feel Qrow bristle and step in front of Nora, clearly offended at the implication that any of his kids would go this far, even as a prank.

“Are you accusing someone, Jimmy?” Qrow asked.

“That’s _General_.” Winter replied, her voice cold.

“Whatever.” Qrow returned with a roll of his eyes.

“I’m not accusing anyone.”

“Then why are we here? You’ve got a whole Academy of potential suspects.”

The General narrowed his eyes at Qrow and Clover felt himself tense at the danger he saw in that glare. The General wouldn’t… shoot Qrow over something he didn’t have control of would he…? He found himself stepping forward, hands raised defensively, the hair on the back of his neck standing up.

“Look, if we could just… calm down. I’m sure if we checked the security ta-“

“We have.” The General cut in, sparing Clover a brief glance that had the Ace Op Leader’s blood run cold before his gaze shifted back to Qrow, “There’s nothing there. They’ve been wiped.”

Clover was frankly, amazed that no one seemed to hear him release the breath he’d been holding, as a wave of relief washed through him.

“My kids wouldn’t have the access to or know how to tamper with your security footage.” Qrow growled, pulling Clover from his thoughts.

Clover’s eyes flicked to the General who held Qrow’s gaze for a moment longer before letting out a sigh and collapsing into his still gift-wrapped chair (the crinkling sound nearly sending Nora into a fit of giggles, one she hid badly with a cough).

“You’re right.” The General relented, leaning forward to rest his elbow on the desk and rub at his temple. “You’re all dismissed. If you find any information about this I expect to be notified.”

A chorus of “yes sir” echoed around the room as one by one the group turned and exited the office.

“Clover. Qrow. A moment please.”

The pair that had been about to leave shared a look, Clover’s filled with worry, Qrow’s with innocent curiosity, before turning back to meet the General’s exhausted gaze.

“Neither of you knows anything about this?”

Clover could feel the tension in his jaw as he struggled to keep his face neutral. Qrow on the other hand, snorted, amusement lighting his eyes.

“Not a clue Jimbo. If you catch whoever did this though, I’d love to shake their hand!” Qrow barked with a laugh. He turned on his heel and lifted a hand in farewell, “Enjoy the cake!”

At a loss for anything else to say, Clover simply managed a “Sir!” as he turned to follow his partner out. It wasn’t until they made it back to their own room that he felt himself relax. He needed to keep a closer eye on Qrow at night from now on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 _Thump_.

James’ world blearily came into view as he sat up, eyes cracking open. The sound came again.

 _Thump_. Someone at his door.

He bit back a growl as he cast a look at his scroll. 2:30 in the morning. What in the Gods’ names could someone _possibly_ want this early? James himself had only just barely gotten to bed ten minutes earlier.

Ignore it.

 _Thump_.

Surely whatever it was could wait until morning.

 _Thump_.

With an irritated snarl, James got out of bed and stuffed himself into a house robe before walking (he was definitely _NOT_ stomping) to the door. A quick look through the keyhole revealed a glassy-eyed and disheveled Qrow.

“Qrow. It is nearly 3 in the morning what could you possibly wa-!” As James opened the door he was caught off guard by the body of quick moving feather that collided with his face.

Though he’d never admit it, he nearly fell over he was so caught by surprise at the force of impact. 

“QROW! What are yo-!”

Blinking rapidly, James was suddenly aware that the man he had _just_ seen standing in front of his door had disappeared. Confused, James chanced a glance at the ground. There, in his doorway was a glassy-eyed crow, twitching every couple of seconds. James stared at it dumbly for longer then he cared to admit before his eyes widened in understanding as he made the connection. Neglecting to change into something more presentable (even forgetting footwear), James hurriedly scooped the bird up in his hands and rushed towards the infirmary.

Had he been less frazzled, James probably would have gone to Clover first, or at least stopped to consider how it would look for the leader of Atlas to rush into the quiet infirmary, barely dressed, cradling a bird, and yelling for help at 3 in the morning. Unfortunately he _hadn’t_ considered these things, and he certainly wasn’t prepared to explain to the _very_ confused doctors that had come running at his call that the bird in his arms was in fact his very good, _human_ friend. Nor was he prepared for the concern for his _own_ health as he was ushered into a room and forced to sit through a variety of tests while he tried to explain that he was in perfect health, and the bird was the one that needed the help. It wasn’t until the crow shifted back into a quietly sleeping man (startling the whole room), that James was finally left alone.

Satisfied after Qrow had been moved to a bed and the doctors were focused on him, James slipped out of the room, scroll in hand to call Clover, only to nearly run straight into his Ace Ops Leader. Word had apparently already spread.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James shifted in his seat and scrubbed a hand across his face as he frowned at the man still sleeping in the bed on the other side of the room. It was nearing 8 in the morning and he still hadn’t slept. The frenzy Qrow had caused (it was definitely the other man’s fault, and _NOT_ James’), had led to an extensive conversation with Clover, and if the other man thought they were done with that he was definitely wrong (what had made Clover think deleting security footage was the appropriate way to deal with this?). Clover’s revelation that Qrow had been sleepwalking for months, and more importantly responsible for the state of James’ office, had come, to put it mildly, as a shock. At the mention of his office, James’ concern for Qrow had briefly vanished, replaced with the anger as remembered the complete chaos it was _still_ in. Clover had gone ashen at the expression on his face and it had taken numerous assurances that James was **NOT** going to shoot Qrow over it before the man had regained his color. Staring now at Qrow through narrowed eyes, James resolved that while he wouldn’t shoot the man, he was definitely going to make him responsible for cleaning the whole mess up.

James shifted again, letting his head fall back against the wall behind him and blowing his disheveled hair out of his face as he stared at the ceiling. The chair he was in was doing no favors for his back, and he was more than a little uncomfortable as the right side of his face (where Qrow had collided with him) continued to swell. Qrow should have been awake by now. Honestly it was pretty unbelievable that the man had managed to sleep through the commotion of the doctors. Nothing they’d tried had been able to wake him up and that was fairly concerning to James, despite Clover’s assurances that Qrow was always difficult to wake up.

A sound from across the room caught James attention. He lifted his head, one eyebrow raised as the man stirred and slowly pushed himself upright. Confusion flickered across his face as he took in the room. White. Sterile. Finally his eyes found James. Qrow’s head tilted to the side as he took in the sight of General James Ironwood, Headmaster of Atlas Academy, wearing nothing but loose pajama pants, and a house robe, bags under his eyes, and half a swollen face.

Qrow opened his mouth, “You know Jimmy,” He smirked, “You might want to think about padding your furniture if you’re going to sleepwalk.”

James’ eyes narrowed. He was _definitely_ going to shoot him, promise to Clover be damned.

**Author's Note:**

> I appreciate you reading! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated as I try to write more frequently. <3


End file.
